Project Management Kirk L Nylund February 18, 2015

Overview Tito Sierra, Markus Wust, and Kim Duckett NCSU Libraries February 13, 2009 Gave a workshop on Project Management The important questions asked in their workshop were. o What is a Project? o What is Project Management? o What is a Project Manager? o Why do we need a Schedule? o What are the important roles in a Project?

What is a Project? Tito Sierra, Markus Wust, and Kim Duckett define a Project as the following: o A unique undertaking composed of interrelated activities which has a well defined beginning and end, often involving staff from cross-functional groups, that operates under specific constraints of resources, schedules, and requirements We have already been cautioned about “Scope Creep” and this is why it is so important to insure well defined beginning and end. The next big thing is buy in from everyone involved or at least gaining the commitment to help the project even if you cannot get everyone excited about the project. The Resources will define the scope many times, and this is not only the budget, but also time and personnel. Schedules and requirements will define the success or failure of the project.

What is Project Management? A set of skills and methods of planning, organizing, and managing a project from inception to its successful completion. A well planned project allows for success. A poorly planned project guarantees failure. At each step in the project you must validate everyone is doing their part, insure that each requirement is performed in the order it needs to be, no one should be waiting on another to complete their part of the project, adjustments made need to be made, and communication is important to keep the project on track.

What is a Project Manager? The role responsible for leading and coordinating the project effort from inception to its successful completion; the person responsible for making things happen. The project manager needs to have the authority to call on the resources need for adjustments, be disciplined enough not to allow scope creep, and a communicator to insure the whole team knows their part and how each part is inter-related. The project manager is the leader and must have that commitment from the owner(s) of the project.

Why do we need a Schedule? Provides a commitment about when things will be done Encourage everyone on the project to see their efforts as part of a whole Provides a tool for breaking work into manageable chunks Provides a tool for measuring progress Parts of a Schedule o Planning Defining what needs to be done (requirements) Deciding how it will be done (design) o Implementation Getting it done o Testing and Evaluation Verify that it was done right

What are the important roles in a Project? Although every project is different, there are commonly occurring roles that exist in most projects o Project Manager o Business Owner o Marketing and Promotions Specialist o User Interface Specialist o Technical Lead o Content Lead Sometimes roles are formally assigned; often they are not Sometimes individuals occupy more than one role in the project

Dependencies and Resources Project Marketing and Promotions Specialist User Interface Specialist Technical Lead Content Lead Business Owner

Questions?